Hand of God: Argentine club recreate Sistine Chapel portrait with Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi
The hand of God has reached out to touch Lionel Messi in a new mural created by an Argentine football club.
Local club Sportivo Pereyra in Buenos Aires have created a mural influenced by Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Diego Maradona takes the place of God, reaching out to his compatriot Lionel Messi in the place of Adam.
Other players, including Sergio Aguero, Juan Roman Riquelme and Gabriel Batistuta, surround Maradona, as the angels.
As reported by Reuters, the mural cost around $20,000 and was paid for by donations to honour previous generations to inspire future ones.
Speaking to Reuters, Sebastian Garcia said: "We were all kids and the ones that loved football wanted to be like our idols.
"When a move doesn’t come off you look to the heavens, and when you ask God for a helping hand you have so many of them to choose from on this ceiling."
WATCH: Argentine football club recreates part of the Sistine Chapel with Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi https://t.co/rfsxQ8D9V6 pic.twitter.com/9B2kKKPwEu
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 9, 2018
Maradona and Messi are widely considered to be two of the greatest footballers of all time, with Maradona having won the World Cup in 1986.
In that tournament, Maradona famously scored the Hand of God goal in the quarter-final against England.
Messi's club career has been far more illustrious than that of Maradona's, however, the Barcelona great is yet to win a World Cup.
Messi led Argentina to the final in 2014 but his side came up short, losing 1-0 to Germany after extra time.
The country's all-time top goalscorer will be hoping he can match Maradona and lift a World Cup trophy in the 2018 tournament in Russia.
